Case study: packing gadget accessories with fanfold void fill paper
Picture a packing table in a small room in west Delhi. On it sit phone covers, cables, chargers, earbuds, a few power banks and the odd Bluetooth speaker, and next to it three stacks of cartons in three different sizes. About 400 orders leave this room every month, and today almost every one of them goes into a carton, padded with whatever is lying around.
This is a worked example. The business is illustrative, put together from situations small sellers commonly face. The product details and the maths are real.
Here is the short answer. This seller does not have a void fill problem first. He has a sorting problem. If I were setting up this table, I would move the flat, unbreakable items (covers, cables, straps) out of cartons and into courier bags or padded mailers, and use fanfold void fill paper only for the orders that truly need a box. That alone cuts the paper needed, and it cuts the volumetric weight the courier bills.
What is going wrong at this table today?
The seller is a two-person business. The owner buys stock and answers customers, and one helper packs. Orders come from two marketplaces and from WhatsApp.
These are the complaints such a seller usually hears:
- A charger or earbuds case arrives rattling loose in a big box, and the customer asks whether it was used.
- A small item lands in a 10 x 8 x 6 inch carton because the smaller cartons ran out, and the courier bill goes up.
- The helper fills gaps with shredded newspaper and old bubble wrap scraps, hunting for filler on every order. Some boxes are tight, some are half empty.
None of these is a disaster on its own. Together, at 400 orders a month, they are a steady leak.
Which orders need a carton at all?
This is where I would start, before buying any paper. Most couriers bill on the higher of the actual weight and the volumetric weight. Delhivery, for example, works out volumetric weight as length x breadth x height in cm, divided by 5000, and for shipments packed in flyers it charges on dead weight up to 1 kg. You can read this on the Delhivery volumetric weight page (Delhivery One Help Center, 2026). Check your own courier's rate card, because the divisor and the rules vary.
So a phone cover in a carton is paying for air. Here is the order mix I have assumed for this example, and the pack I would give each group.
| Product group | Share | Orders a month | Pack | Void fill |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Covers, screen guards, straps, cables | 40% | 160 | 8x10 courier bag, or an M1 or M2 padded mailer | None |
| Chargers, earbuds, small power banks | 35% | 140 | 20 x 15 x 10 cm carton (8x6x4 inch) | 3 to 5 sheets |
| Combos, smartwatches, two or three items | 18% | 72 | 25 x 20 x 15 cm carton (10x8x6 inch) | 8 to 12 sheets |
| Speakers and big bundles | 7% | 28 | 30 x 25 x 20 cm carton (12x10x8 inch) | 15 to 25 sheets |
The sheet counts are the starting points from our guide on how much void fill paper a carton needs, counted in 380 x 250 mm sheets. That guide assumes the product fills about half the box. Gadgets often fill less, so treat these as the first week's numbers and correct them after counting.
Now look at the volumetric weight of the three cartons. The small one is 3,000 cubic cm, i.e. 0.6 kg. The middle one is 1.5 kg. The big one is 3 kg. A charger that slips into the middle carton because the small ones ran out is billed at two and a half times the weight.
My rule of the trade here is simple. The carton decides the courier bill, and the paper only decides whether the product survives it. Keep the small cartons in stock first.
We give this advice to every seller who writes to us, even though it means we sell less paper.
For the 160 bag orders, the choice between a plastic courier bag and a paper mailer is its own question. I have compared the two in paper mailer vs courier bag.
Why fanfold paper, and what else could work?
Fanfold void fill is brown paper folded back and forth into a flat zig-zag stack, 380 mm (15 inch) wide. The helper pulls out as much as the box needs, crumples it and pushes it into the gaps. For long, narrow gaps beside a charger box, the helper can bunch a long strip like an accordion and tuck it in as one piece.
We make paper packaging in our own plant in Jaipur, and we hear one question from gadget sellers more than any other: how much paper do we really need?
We would rather answer that honestly than sell you a bigger pack.
I would put fanfold void fill paper at this table for three reasons.
- It is one material for all three carton sizes. The helper only changes how much he pulls.
- It stands flat, so a stack fits under the table in a small room.
- It goes in the customer's paper waste after unboxing.
These are the honest alternatives.
- Loose void filling paper sheets of 380 x 250 mm do the same job. They are easier to count, one sheet at a time, so they suit a second packing station or a new helper. For a busy single table I prefer the fanfold, because pulling is faster than picking.
- Old newspaper is free, but it is inky and looks cheap next to a new gadget.
- Air pillows are lighter for big, light boxes. We do not list them on PackSmith, so we have no reason to push them. If most of your orders were speakers in 12 x 10 x 8 inch boxes, I would look at them seriously.
- If almost everything you sell is small, skip the paper altogether. A padded mailer does the job in one step. Our sister case on an earring brand using honeycomb mailers shows that setup.
One limit, plainly. Void fill stops movement. It is not a cushion for a bare, fragile surface. A power bank or charger in its own retail box is fine with void fill around it. A loose smartwatch with a glass face needs a wrap first, for example one kraft paper bubble sheet, and then paper around the wrap.
How would the packing table be set up?
If I were packing for this seller, this is the order I would teach the helper.
- Read the order and pick the pack from the table above. Stick a printed copy of the table on the wall, at eye level.
- For a carton, pull about 50 cm of fanfold (two sheets' worth), bunch it and lay it flat as a 2 to 3 cm base.
- Put the product in the middle, not against a wall. Wrap anything without its own box first.
- Crumple sheets to the size of a fist and fill the four corners, then the sides.
- Add a top layer. The flaps should close with a gentle press.
- Close the box and shake it hard with both hands. If anything moves, open it and add paper.
- Seal it. A carton under 2 kg of soft or boxed goods needs one strip along the top and bottom seams. Our guide on how to tape a shipping carton has the metres per carton size.
- Weigh the packed box and note the weight on the order. When a courier raises a weight dispute, that note and a photo on the scale are your evidence.
How much paper is that a month, and when to reorder?
Take the middle of each starting range: 4 sheets for the small carton, 10 for the middle one and 20 for the big one.
140 x 4 = 560 sheets. 72 x 10 = 720 sheets. 28 x 20 = 560 sheets. That is 1,840 sheets, plus about 10% for torn pulls and over-filled boxes, so roughly 2,000 sheets a month.
Because I count in 380 x 250 mm sheets, every sheet is 25 cm pulled off the fanfold stack. 2,000 sheets is about 500 m of fanfold paper a month, or about 19 m on each of 26 working days.
| Item | Use per order | Orders a month | Approx. use a month | Reorder when stock falls to |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fanfold void fill (in 380 x 250 mm sheets) | 0 to 25 sheets | 240 cartons | about 2,000 sheets (about 500 m) | 10 working days of use, about 770 sheets |
| Courier bags 8x10 or padded mailers M1/M2 | 1 | 160 | 160 | 2 weeks of use, about 80 |
| Kraft paper bubble sheets 300 x 400 mm | 1 per unboxed fragile item | about 30 (my assumption) | 30 | 15 sheets |
| Brown packing tape 2 inch x 65 m | 0.6 to 2.3 m | 240 cartons | about 3 to 4 rolls | 1 roll in hand |
The fanfold listing names its two packs "1000" and "2000". Check on the listing what one pack holds, then divide your monthly use by it. Better still, write the date on the pack the day you open it. When it runs out, you know your real orders per pack, and the reorder line becomes your number, not my estimate.
Why 10 working days? We dispatch in 1 to 2 working days, then the courier needs its own time. Ten days covers a slow festival week.
What should this seller watch?
- If any carton needs more than about 40 sheets, the carton is too big. Change the box, not the paper.
- Delhi's monsoon is hard on paper. Store the stack off the floor and away from the wall, because damp paper loses its spring.
- Measure, do not guess. Count damaged-on-arrival and "loose item" complaints for 60 days before the change and 60 days after. Count weight disputes the same way. That tells you whether the setup works for your products.
- Power banks contain lithium batteries. Ask your courier about its rules for them before you ship, whatever the packing.
Doing this in your own business
- List your products and sort them into "bag" and "box". Be strict about it.
- Keep two or three carton sizes only, and never run out of the smallest one.
- Pack ten orders of each carton size and count the sheets each one takes.
- Multiply by your monthly orders and add 10%.
- Set the reorder line at 10 working days of use.
- Try it before you buy in bulk. Our free packaging sample has a courier bag, a kraft bubble sheet and a brown carton to test with.
We are happy to do this maths with you. Send us your three carton sizes and a rough order mix through our contact page, and we will help you work out the paper for your own table.
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